Date: Fri 27-Mar-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-P&Z-rezoning

Full Text:

Hearing Set April 2 On Fairfield Hills Rezoning Plan

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to air its proposal to

revamp the zoning at Fairfield Hills at a public hearing Thursday, April 2, at

8 pm. The session is slated for Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen

Street.

The state is seeking to sell or lease its sprawling Fairfield Hills property

set in the geographic center of town.

The town's rezoning the land would place certain limits on how the property

could be developed if it is sold by the state. However, if the state retains

ownership, the property would not be subject to town zoning regulations. It is

unclear whether the provisions for rezoning would apply to the land if the

state leases out the property to a private party.

Under the proposed rezoning, existing residentially-zoned land would be

converted to land zones called: Fairfield Hills Adaptive Re-use (FHAR),

Conservation/Agricultural (CA), and Industrial (M-5).

FHAR Zone

The proposed FHAR Zone would have a minimum lot size of 150 acres. FHAR zoning

is intended to permit the conversion and reuse of the former Fairfield Hills

Hospital campus in a manner in harmony with the character of the existing

campus and surrounding neighborhood. The proposed zone is intended to allow

the economic reuse of the site while encouraging conservation of the site

design and cohesive layout of the main campus.

The proposed FHAR zone would generally incorporate Fairfield Hills' core

campus south of the bypass road which is now under construction. That property

now has residential zoning with a one-acre minimum lot size.

Certain "permitted uses" would be allowed in the FHAR zone provided that an

applicant obtains a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z.

These permitted uses include: retail sales, shopping centers and wholesale

businesses, all limited to a maximum 40,000 square feet of floor area;

educational facilities with accessory housing; light manufacturing; bulk

storage; warehousing; office space; medical and dental offices; laboratories;

corporate headquarters; printing establishments; laundry services; dry

cleaners; publishing establishments; restaurants; commercial or public

recreational facilities; fitness centers; museums; libraries; theaters; movie

theater complexes; houses of worship; banks and financial institutions;

hospitals, multiple family dwellings which include affordable housing; adult

congregate-living complexes; assisted-living complexes for the elderly;

multiple-family housing for the elderly; parking structures; hotels; motels;

conference centers; nurseries and greenhouses.

CA Zone

Another zone proposed by the P&Z is the Conservation/Agriculture (CA) zone.

The proposed zone is intended to provide for the long-term maintenance of land

in an undeveloped state by limiting its use to wildlife habitats, farming,

foresting and passive recreation. Such a zone is intended to preserve and

protect: existing and potential drinking water supplies, plant and animal

wildlife, unique natural features, watersheds, aquatic life, vistas and

sensitive archaeological sites. Land with such zoning would be intended for

passive recreation and to retain a local agricultural industry.

Permitted uses in CA zones would include foresting, pedestrian hiking trails,

natural wildlife habitat, nature preserves, and open space areas.

Land uses which would be permitted by special exceptions to the zoning

regulations would be: crop farming, bicycle trails, equestrian trails,

playgrounds for children's outdoor games and recreation, and outdoor sport

fields.

A P&Z subcommittee which has developed the Fairfield Hills rezoning proposal

during the past several months is of a divided opinion on whether golf courses

should be allowed as a special exception to the regulations.

P&Z members have decided to submit the golf course idea to residents for

comments at the public hearing.

Approximately 250 acres at Fairfield Hills has been designated by the state

for conservation, open space and agricultural uses. A move is underway to

designate more land there for such uses.

M-5 Zone

Besides the proposed PHAR and CA zones, P&Z members are proposing that the

northern tip of the Fairfield Hills property be rezoned from Residential (R-1)

to Industrial (M-5).

The state has proposed providing a low-cost, long-term lease to the town for

the industrial development of 37 acres the state owns at the end of Commerce

Road.

In 1995, the town acquired land at 6 and 8 Commerce Road for $130,000 for a

site to build a fork off Commerce Road for access to the 37 acres.

Roughly 100 acres of Fairfield Hills lies in the Borough of Newtown, and thus

is not subject to the P&Z's proposal for CA zoning.

The state closed Fairfield Hills as a psychiatric institution in 1995 as the

Department of Mental Health (DMH) pursued its policy of patient

"deinstitutionalization."

Following the hospital's closure, P&Z members began to realize that dense

residential development might occur at Fairfield Hills under its current

small-lot residential zoning designation. Consequently, they formed the

subcommittee to study rezoning the land.